Football pants



H. GOLDSMITH FOOTBALL PANTS Feb. 24, 1953 2 SHEETS--SHEET 1 Filed Oct. 11 1950 T ram/5x5,

Feb. 24, 1953 H. GOLDSMITH FOOTBALL PANTS 2 SHEETSSHEET 2 Filed Oct. 11 1950 INVENTOR.

ATTo/eveys.

Patented Feb. 24, 1953 FOOTBALL PANTS Hugo Goldsmith, Cincinnati, Ohio, assignor to Sport Products, Inc., Cincinnati, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Application October 11, 1950, Serial No. 189,567

3 Claims.

This invention relates to football pants and is particularly directed to a novel type of pants provided with pockets in which removable protective pads are held in position over the kidney, spine and pelvic regions of the wearer to protect these regions from injury.

Football has long been recognized as one of the roughest of American sports, one in whichbody contact between opposing players is the essence of the game. The very nature of the sport has given rise to the need for a variety of protective equipment to protect the participating athlete from injury. Helmets have been developed toprotect his head, shoulders pads to protect his shoulders, clavicle and chest, and special pads to protect his spine, kidney and pelvic regions. It is with the latter class of protective equipment that this invention is concerned.

Originally, the only protection given to theform of soft padding sewn into the pants in the appropriate places. The principal diiiiculty with this type of equipment was that the soft padding gave only a small and grossly inadequate protec-- tion to parts of the body of the wearer which are extremely vulnerable when subjected to hard blows. Also, the pants were cumbersome and hard to clean properly since the padding was made integral with the pants and couldnt be removed when the pants were to be cleaned.

The next development in protective equipment for the hips, kidney and spine, one which has continued in prevalent use down to the present time, is the hip pad. A hip pad is a separate piece of equipment worn next to the body of the wearer underneath the jersey and pants. It is constructed from a heavy pad made of a soft material such as kapok or foam rubber, small molded fiber pads being secured to the softer pad to cover the most vulnerable parts of the wearer. A belt is secured to the pad so that the pad can be fastened about the waist of the wearer.

Hip pads of this type have provided adequate protection and are responsible for the prevention of many injuries which might otherwise have occurred. But such hip pads do have certain disadvantages which the present invention seeks to overcome. In the first place, they are a relatively heavy and cumbersome piece of equipment and especially with the present emgreatest possible freedom of movement. Secondly, since the fiber pads, or protectors are bound or otherwise permanently secured to the softer padding, it is extremely difficult to properly clean the conventional hip pads. Furthermore, during use, the hip pads have a tendency to shift or skew, so that portions of the users body which need protection are exposed and the pads themselves exert undesirable pressure against other parts of the wearers body.

The present invention seeks to remedy these defects in the previous methods of protecting the player from blows received by the kidneys, pelvic regions and spine and is predicated upon the concept of providing in the football pants themselves, pockets which will accurately position form fitting protective pads which cover the vulnerable parts of the wearers body. The pockets are so constructed that while the pads may be readily removed so that the pants may be easily cleaned, the pads are effectively prevented from. accidentally coming out of the pockets. Since the pads are worn next to the body of the wearer and are not separated from it by a heavy layer of soft padding as is the case with hip pads,

" they may be accurately form fitted to the body to afford a maximum degree of protection. Furthermore, the heavy padding which furnishes the base of the usual hip pad construction is entirely eliminated so that the resulting pants and removable pads are considerably lighter than the old hip pads and pants combination.

Another advantage of the present construction is the accurate location of the protective padding. Since the pants are less likely to be shifted about the body of the wearer than the old style hip pads, the protective pads inserted in the pockets provided in the pantshave a much greater tendency to remain in a position coveringthe vulnerable points which need the protection most.

An object of this invention therefore, is to provide a pair of football pants having a plurality of pockets adapted to receive form fitting fiber pads which cover such vulnerable spotsas the kidneys, pelvic region and spine of the athlete.

Another object of this invention is to provide in football pants, pockets of a novel type of construction which will prevent the protective pads from becoming ac cidently dislodged.

A further object of this invention is to provide a pair of football pants having pockets adapted to receive protective pads constructed of fibre, cushion rubber, plastic or the like, which may be readily removed when it is desired to clean the pants.

A furtherobject of this invention is to provide a pair of football pants having pockets which will accurately position the protective pads to cover the vulnerable spots of the wearer.

An additional object of this invention is to provide a pair of football pants having pockets adapted to receive protective pads in such a manner that the pads will fit firmly against the body of the wearer.

ese and other objects of the advantages of the present invention will be apparent from a. consideration of the specification in conjunction with the drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a front elevational View of a pair 'of football pants constructed in accordance with my invention.

Figure 2 is a side elevational view of the football pants.

Figure 3 is a partial elevational view of the spine pad looking from the inside of the pants outwardly.

Figure 4 is a partial elevational view of the spine pad viewed from the outside of the pants with part of the pants being broken away to show the pocket or envelope with the opening through which the pad may be inserted or removed.

Figure 5 is a view similar to Figure 3 of the pads designed to protect the kidneys and the pelvic regions of the wearer.

Figure 6 is a cross-sectional view taken along 1;

line 6-45-01. Figure 5.

Figure '7 is a cross-sectional view taken along line of Figure 5.

Figure 8 is a partial elevational view of the kidney and pelvic protecting pads viewed from :;I

the exterior of the pants with part-of the pants being broken away to show the openings through which the pads may be inserted into the pockets.

Figure 9 is a view of the pelvic protecting pad partially inserted into the pocket showing how the novel opening at the top of the pocket may be stretched to permit the easy insertion of the protective fiber pads.

A pair of football pants ID, as shown in the drawings, are tight knee length pants constructed of a durable material such as nylon twill, duck or rip cord. Often the entire rear portion of the pants is knitted or an elastic knitted insert is provided to insure a firm, tight fit. A belt II, by means of which the pants may be further tightened, passes through a belt tunnel l2 provided adjacent the upper edge of the pants II). A waist band [3 is also secured to the upper inner portion of the pants.

Flaps M are suspended from the waist band 13 on opposite sides of the pants in positions corresponding generally to the hips of the wearer. The purpose of the flaps is to serve as a base for forming the pockets l5 into which the protective pads 56 will be inserted to cover the kidneys and pelvic portions of the wearer. The flaps l4 and pockets I5 depend freely from waist band l3 and are so positioned that when the pants are worn, the pads l6, which are firmly held in the pockets l5, are accurately positioned over the vulnerable portions of the body which are to be protected.

In the preferred embodiment, the pockets are formed on the outer surface of the flaps, as shown in Figure 7, that is, on the side of the flaps ad- Cir pocket being permanently secured to the pants approximately the same size and shape as the pad I6 which is to be inserted in the pockets and therefore holds the pad firmly in place. An opening [8 is provided so that the protective pad may be inserted into the pocket.

Preferably the patch piece and flap are constructed of an elastic material so that the opening i8 which is left in the periphery of'the pocket can be made considerably smaller than the smallest dimension of the pad to be inserted and yet may be readily stretched to permit the easy insertion or removal of the pad as illustrated in Figure 9.

While the exact construction of the protective pads l8 does not constitute part of the present invention, a preferred type of pad as shown is formed from fiber board I9 or some similar material which may be either ribbed or left plain, the inner body contacting portion of the fiber board being covered by a strip of flexible material 20 such as foamrubber. The edges of the pad are covered with some soft material 21 to eliminate any discomfort caused by contact'with the'sharp edges. Due to the fact that these pads are separated from contact with the body only by the thin layer of material forming the flap M, they may be accurately fitted to conform to the areas of body which they are to cover and hence by cushioning any blow over their entire area afford a maximum degree of protection to the player.

A pocket 22 is also suspended from the waist bandat the rear portion of the pants. This pocket is adapted to receive the spine pad 23 which is a fiber pad constructed similarly to the kidney and pelvic pads and is designed to protect the spinal region of the player from injury. This pocket is also constructed preferably of an elastic material and is provided with an opening 24 so that the pad may be readily inserted or withdrawn.

As an alternative to securing the flaps and the spinal pad pocket directly to the pants, they may be first secured by some means onto a Waist band which can in turn be laced or secured by some other means to a standard pair of pants thus enabling the conversion of any pants to the type which contain removable protective pads.

It will be obvious to those skilled in the art that these and many other possible modifications may be made without departing from the spirit or scope of the present invention.

Having described my invention, I claim:

1. In a pair of football pants including a body covering portion having a waistline and a crotch, a plurality of pockets, each of said pockets being constituted by two opposed layers of cloth, said layers of I cloth being joined together along a line to define a pocket, the upper edge of said at the waistline, the remainder of said pocket depending freely therefrom into the interior of the pants, said pockets extending more than half the vertical distance between the waistline and the crotch, said pads being adapted to receive protective pads and having elastic portions for holding said pads immovable within said pockets, said plurality of pockets including one elongated pocket positioned at the rear upper central portion of said pants to cover the wearers spine, and a pair of pockets one of which is positioned in the upper side portion of said pants on each side of the rear pocket, each of said pair of pockets extending toward the front and rear portion of said pants and being adapted to hold pads for the protection of wearers kidneys.

2. In a pair of football pants including a body covering portion having a waistline and a crotch, a plurality of pockets, said pockets being constituted by two opposed layers of cloth, said layers of cloth being joined together along a line to define a pocket, the upper edge of said pocket being permanently secured to the pants at the waistline, the remainder of said pocket depending freely therefrom into the interior of the pants for a distance greater than half the distance from the waistline to the crotch, a plurality of substantially rigid protective pads, said pockets being adapted to receive said pads and having elastic portions for holding said pads immovable within said pockets, each of said pockets having an opening therein formed of elastic material, each of said openings being smaller than the smallest linear dimension of the pad to be received by the pocket, said plurality of pockets including one elongated pocket positioned at the rear upper central portion of said pants to cover the wearers spine and a pair of pockets one of which is positioned in the upper side portion of said pants on each side of the rear pocket, each of said pair of pockets extending toward the front and rear portions of the pants and being adapted to hold pads for the protection of the wearers kidneys.

3. In a pair of football pants including a body covering portion having a waistline and a crotch, a plurality of pockets, said pockets being constituted by two opposed layers of cloth, said layers of cloth being joined together along a line to define a pocket, the upper edge of said pocket being permanently secured to the pants at the waistline, the remainder of said pocket depending freely therefrom into the interior of the pants for a distance greater than half the distance from the waistline to the crotch, a plurality of substantially rigid protective pads, said pockets being adapted to receive said pads and having elastic portions for holding said pads immovable within said pockets, each of said pockets having an opening therein formed of elastic material, each of said openings being smaller than the smallest linear dimension of the pad to be received by the pocket, said plurality of pockets including one elongated pocket positioned at the rear upper central portion of said pants to cover the wearers spine and a pair of pockets, one of which is positioned in the upper side portion of said pants on each side of the rear pocket, each of said pair of pockets extending toward the front and rear portions of the pants and being adapted to hold pads for the protection of the wearers kidneys, the configuration of each of said pockets being substantially the same as the configuration of the pad disposed therein, each of said pockets engaging substantially the entire surface of the pad contained therein whereby the pads are maintained securely against accidental displacement.

HUGO GOLDSMITH.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,573,212 Whitley et a1 Feb. 16, 1926 1,636,553 Cruden July 19, 1927 1,803,335 Levinson May 5, 1931 2,136,742 Herbener Nov. 15, 1938 

